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Avant garde restaurants in Texas

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I was just wondering if there are any avant garde restaurants in Texas? To my knowledge there are none. I just wanted to hear peoples thoughts on the subject and if they think one could survive. And what city would be most accepting to a place like that.

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If you put molecular gastronomy in the avant garde tent, then probably the best example that comes to mind is Randy Rucker in Houston. He ran a place called laidback manor that unforunately didn't make it (which answers your second question). Fortunately he stuck it out in Houston, ran a supper club called Tenacity, and I believe just recently took over the kitchen at Rainbow Lodge with a menu revamp coming soon. Soma in Houston seems to be experimenting with the idea, and there's other chefs like Gasper Noe incorporating some novel concepts in their cooking.

I think a case can be made for any of the "big three" to get an avant garde place that takes off. Houston has such a rich cultural stew that I think its populace is open to anything, Austin has a younger and more adventurous crowd, and Dallas seems to do pretty well with its top end places, so if one tailors their concept accordingly I think people would come around. Of course the present economic situation is another matter. . .

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Outside Barcelona, you might try Austin. Please research your market--there is nothing worse than going broke making a statement. In the end there is no satisfaction. Your family comes to your aid and you are humiliated. Research your market.

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You will never see it in the Lone Star State. Who there would eat that agarized, foamed, antigriddled stuff when you could easily get a hunk of pit bbq'd beef and rip it apart with your hands and wash it down with a cold beer. Hook 'em Horns!

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I dunno; five years ago would it have been accepted that one of the if not the most avant garde restaurant in the country would be located in Chicago, land of the polish sausage and the deep dish pizza?

I still think there's a strong likelihood that it could take off in Texas, probably moreso Houston or Austin but still. I mean it's quite a leap, sure, for people to go from eating a well done filet mignon to shrimp cotton candy with seaweed air, but you can work elements of it into what's already familiar. Foams, airs, etc., could work their wayin as a sauce, you could have "gelled" vegetables as a side to a dish, etc., etc.

BTW, I don't know how I came up with Gaspar Noe up there; I meant Robert Gadsby (sp?) formerly of Noe and Soma, in Houston. Apologies for any confusion.

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Its hard to say it could never be done in the lone star state. Its true not even chicago knew that they were going to have such a change from the deep dish to weird service piece and the frozen meat. You really don't even need a city when you think about places like the french laundry, the fat duck, mugaritz, and michele bras. They are restaurants doing food both traditional and foamy at places in the middle of nowhere. Would blumenthol fail if he opened a restaurant in houston? What if somebody could blend the avant garde with the french laundry and meet in the middle could that work. Who knows but I've got some avant garde under my belt and I'll be cooking at the french laundry monday and tuesday. But for now this is just research which means Ill probably end up running a diner or a bistro. That way is much easier.

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You should check out Bedford, the new restaurant that Gadsby recently opened in Houston. The are a lot of local food blogger that have reviews about it and it is pretty avant garde, and is being well received.

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I feel like the pastry chef at Uchi in Austin has experimented a little bit, but not gone full-blown molecular.

As far as seeing this in Austin, I just can't picture it. Yes, we're a little more adventurous, but we're also kind of poor these days. Austin is more about hole in the walls than anything else in my opinion.

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Thanks for the recomendations on uchi and bedford. They both look like they are doing good food in the lone star state. I really want to try uchi and have known about the restaurant for a while. Chef clole seems like a down to earth guy as well. I have looked for pictures but there isn't really a lot out there. It would be nice to see as much food as possible from the two chefs.

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Bringing back this zombie since I've been fairly interested in this. Austin has quite a few restaurants that have been moving into this realm. Not quite to the extent of restaurants such as Alinea or Minibar, but I have seen plenty of foams, gels, smoke, sous vide, and overall modern presentations at quite a few restaurants here.

Obviously Uchi and Uchiko are always listed as the top restaurants in Austin, which deserve that spot. These restaurants are full-blown molecular gastronomy, but use some modern techniques in some of their components. They have an awesome sous vide pork belly dish (Bacon Steakie). Another good modern spot to check out is the Barley Swine.

I would highly reccomend Congress or Carillon if you want more avant garde food, although the former comes at a cost (and is likely the closest you'll get to what you want without going to Chicago).

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Similar Content

Welcome to the index for the Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques, & Equipment topic, one of the largest and most influential topics on eG Forums. (The topic has been closed to keep the index stable and reliable; you can find another general SV discussion topic here.) This index is intended to help you navigate the thousands of posts and discussions to make this rich resource more useful and accessible.

In order to understand sous vide cooking, it's best to clear up some misconceptions and explain some basics. Sous vide cooking involves vacuum-sealing food in a plastic bag and cooking it in a water bath at precise temperatures. Though it translates literally as "under vacuum," "Sous vide" is often taken to mean "under pressure," which is a misnomer; not all SV cooking involves food cooked in conditions that exceed atmospheric pressure. (See below.) In addition, calculations for SV cooking involve not only time and temperature but also thickness. Finally, due to the anaerobic conditions inside the bag and the low temperatures used, food safety issues are paramount.

You can read the basics of SV cooking and equipment here. In the summer of 2005, Nathan Myhrvold (Society member nathanm) posted this informative, "I'm now going to answer my own initial questions" post, which addresses just about everything up to that point. For what came next, read on -- and be sure to order Nathan Myhrvold's highly anticipated Modernist Cuisine book, due in spring 2011.

As with all indexes of on-going discussions, this one has limitations. We've done our best to create a user-friendly taxonomy emphasizing the categories that have come up repeatedly. In addition, the science, technology, and recipes changed over time, and opinions varied greatly, so be sure to read updated information whenever possible.

Therefore, we strongly encourage you to keep these issues in mind when reading the topic, and particularly when considering controversial topics related to food safety, doneness, delta T cooking, and so on. Don't read a first post's definitive claim without reading down the topic, where you'll likely find discussion, if not heated debate or refutation, of that claim. Links go to the first post in a series that may be discontinuous, so be sure to scan a bit more to get the full discussion.

Recipes were chosen based solely on having a clear set of information, not on merit. Indeed, we've included several stated failures for reference. Where possible, recipes include temperature and time in the link label -- but remember that thickness is also a crucial variable in many SV preparations. (See below for more information on thickness.)

History, Philosophy & Value of SV/LTLT Cooking

Over the years, we've talked quite a bit about SV as a concept, starting with this discussion about how SV cooking got started. There have also been several people who asked, Why bother with SV in the first place? (See also this discussion.) What with all the electronics and plastic bags, we asked: Does SV food lack passion? Finally, there have been several discussions about the value of SV cooking in other eG Forums topics, such as the future of SV cooking, No More Sous Vide -- PLEASE!, is SV "real cooking," and what's the appeal of SV?

Those who embrace SV initially seek ideas about the best applications for their new equipment. Discussions have focused on what a first SV meal should be -- see also this discussion -- and on the items for which SV/LTLT cooking is best suited. There's much more along those lines here, here, and here.

Vacuums and Pressure in Sous Vide Cooking

As mentioned above, there has been great confusion about vacuums, pressure, and their role SV cooking. Here is a selection of discussion points on the subject, arranged chronologically; please note that later posts in a given discussion may refute earlier ones:

Do you need a vacuum for SV cooking, and, if so, why?
What exactly is a "vacuum"? Click here, here, and ff.
Are items in vacuum-sealed bags "under pressure"?
Does a vacuum sealer create a vacuum inside the bag?
Do you really need a vacuum, or can you use ZipLoc bags? Also see here, here, and here.
If "sous vide" means "under pressure," aren't the items in the bag under pressure? There is more along these lines to be found in this discussion.

The Charts

We've collected the most important of many charts in the SV topic here. Standing above the rest are Nathan Myhrvold's charts for cooking time versus thickness and desired core temperature. We worked with him to create these three reformatted protein tables, for beef, fish, and chicken & pork.

Nathan provides additional information on his charts here. Information on how to read these charts can be found in this post. For an explanation of "rest time" in Nathan's tables, click here.

Other Society members helped out as well. Douglas Baldwin references his heating time table for different geometric factors (slab/cylinder/sphere) here; the pdf itself can be found here. pounce created a post with all three tables as neatly formatted images. derekslager created two monospace font charts of Nathan's meat table and his fish table.

Camano Chef created a cumulative chart with information gathered from other sources including Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc. Douglas Baldwin shared this chart devoted to pasteurizing poultry. PedroG detailed heat loss and steady state energy consumption of sous vide cookers in these charts.

Finally, there is also an eG Forums topic on cooling rates that may be of interest.

Acknowledgment & Comments

This index was built by Chris Amirault, Director, eG Forums. It was reviewed by the eGullet Society volunteer team as well as many Society members. Please send questions or comments to Chris via messenger or email.

Hi,
I've tried to make the spherical mussels recipe from the Modernist Cuisine books and it didn't work as I expected, so I would appreciate any advice that may help here.
The recipe calls for calcium gluconate which I couldn't get hold of, so I replaced it with calcium lactate gluconate that I had at home. I used the same ration (2.5%)
When I tried to create the spheres in the sodium alginate bath I encountered two main problems;
1. instead of spheres the mixture just stayed as uneven shape on the surface. The bath was 1Kg. water with 5gr. sodium alginate and I let it rest in the fridge for 24 hours before using it so I think the problem is not here. However, the mussels jus mixture (100gr. mussels jus, 0.5gr. xanthin gum and and 2.5gr. calcium lactate gluconate) had a lot of air bubbles in it. Can that be the issue?
2. In the book the spheres seem to be completely transparent whereas my mussels jus mixture was pretty white and opaque. Is it because I replaced calcium gluconate with calcium lactate gluconate? Or maybe it's because the jus itself should be clarified before it is used?
Thanks in advance for your support,
Tom.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone on here has tried using an induction cooktop with confection making (caramels, fondant, marshmallows ect...). My stove has literally three settings, and the low setting still burns sugar and there is no such thing as maintaining any sort of "simmer". I was looking into getting a cooktop and buying some copper sugar pots and mauviel makes this thing that goes inbetween. I would love to hear any input into this idea or your experiences!